Posts Tagged ‘photo’

I went back to Bristol last weekend, and I evidently forgot to upload my photo of Paddington tube station! I also took a picture of Bayswater, but with my thumb in front of it, it got deleted and I will have to take another one sometime.

I never realised that the building for Paddington tube station was so grand, having been mainly used to the railway station / hangar.

And then today, I went to the American School in London and I had to reveal this London Underground Photo project that I am doing to my colleagues – I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a picture of St. John’s Wood (where I have never been up until today) and I couldn’t just take a picture of it without looking like a total weirdo. So I explained the photo project, and I got my picture!

I actually took a picture of Shepherd’s Bush station a few weeks ago, but it was dark and so my iPhone’s camera got confused and blurred the whole thing up, making it unpostable. But Toby and I went to Westfield again today and this time, it was daylight! So I got a nice picture of the station:

… as well as some Christmas presents (this weekend I have finally kicked off buying Christmas presents, and am proud to say that I am nearly halfway done!) and also a nice little Christmas tree and some decorations for my flat! I haven’t quite finished, and it wasn’t as traditional-looking as I intended, but I am still pleased with the results:

Thank you Paperchase and Debenhams for supplying the goods! I love this time of year and it’s so lovely to have my very own first set of mini Christmas decorations!

Hello people! So today I have another two pictures to add to the collection: Notting Hill Gate, which is the closest tube station to my office, and Finchley Road, which is the closest tube station to one of the other school campuses.

The Notting Hill Gate station is all underground, so there’s not much to look at…

… and due to the fact that by 5pm, it’s dark, this is not the best picture of Finchley Road tube station either. But I did well to get it, considering that I had to practically stand in the middle of the road to get a decent shot of it!

Lo and behold, as predicted, my next entry into my London Underground photo blog project is Earls Court.

This was pretty easy, as I can see this tube station from my window. I have taken a picture of the Warwick Road entrance as it is the entrance I am most familiar with. And then, at the same time I was able to take a bonus picture of…

… the Earls Court Exhibition Centre across the road, which is the main attraction of Earls Court and what most non-Londoners think of when they hear the name “Earls Court”. This was taken on the return from Tesco this morning, when Toby and I were both sneezing into our tissues and feeling very sorry for our cold-afflicted selves. Being able to watch the fireworks going off from outside my window last night was a lovely bonus to living in this area.

I am going to see Nana in Knightsbridge this afternoon so if I go past any more tube stations, I will diligently try and add them to the collection! Watch this space.

Since I don’t really know what to write, and I’ve had a pretty uneventful day (that’s what happens when you spend most of it on the sofa – I think my fatigue is nearly gone though 😀 ), I thought I would just make a quick list of 10 thoughts or things that I haven’t necessarily learned today, but that have returned to mind or made themselves evident today.

1. Apparently, my mother standing on my laptop is appropriate recompense for my threatening to take a picture of her.

2. My father has an intense and somewhat irrational dislike of Eminem and the Black Eyed Peas.

3. Good films on dvd never go on sale quickly enough.

4. Your hometown is the best, most comforting place when you’re somewhere else. As soon as you’re back there, it’s claustrophobic and overly familiar, and you want to break out all over again.

5. According to the return of X Factor and the continuation of Big Brother, reality tv makes the world go round. Not only is it recession-friendly, but it somehow hypnotises 95% of the population and destroys their remaining brain cells. Am I really the only one who finds those kinds of programmes irredeemably tacky???

6. There are not enough sexy men in my life.

7. Everyone must have come back from summer holidays because suddenly my blog is getting lots of views again like it used to! (There was a two-week lull.) Thanks y’all 🙂

8. As much as we chastise celebrity fragrances for being tacky, not realising that Armani, Gucci, Ralph Lauren and lots of other brands pay perfumers to manufacture perfumes for their brands in the exact same way and with the exact same lack of input, I still want to buy myself a new bottle of Britney Spears Curious.

9. Beyoncé has the power to make my father’s voice (and his criticisms and jokes) inaudible to my ears.

10. Fashions may change, the world may evolve and people may be born, live and die each day, but love will always remain one of the constant cruxes of the human race.

Another thing from the wedding yesterday that I wanted to touch upon was the fact that depending on whom you are surrounded by, your every action can be made into a big mistake or faux pas. For example, we were lining up for wedding photos, and I somehow ended up at the front (which was not where I wanted to be, nor where I thought was appropriate for me to be). Other people weren’t really getting the hint that we were assembling for this mass photo, so for a while I was stood at the front by myself, because I am one of the tallest and therefore stood on the front / lowest step. After a while, Aiman (the bride) stood next to me, and I said “I shouldn’t be standing next to you!!!” Everyone was like “OMG WHY?” My response: “Because that is Phil’s place, not mine! He’s her husband!!!” It makes sense, non? So I tried to step backwards, despite people being stood behind me, and some of my friends were like “Alan, what are you doing?” a) My bag was quite robust, filled with my necessary stuff, and it was that, more than me, which was hitting their feet. And b) It should have been pretty obvious what I was doing: I was trying to get out of the way of being right at the front of the picture, and allowing the focus to be on whom it really should have been on, considering it was not my wedding day. So why was I made out to feel foolish and melodramatic? Was my train of thought really so illogical, so difficult to understand? I don’t think so, and even typing out this paragraph, it makes sense to me.

My university friends, by and large, make fun of: my proclivity for designer things and large black sunglasses (two of my friends laughed when I put them on. I pointed at the emerging sun, and then also at another guest across the car park who was also wearing sunglasses. Nobody was laughing at him.); my vanity; my ability to spend money. They genuinely think that I am funny (and they also laugh at the joke-ish things I do on purpose), but I don’t think they realise that they sometimes hurt my feelings. This is the way that I am, and I’m not constantly trying to amuse anybody. It doesn’t seem to strike any of my other (read: Bristol) friends as hilarious that I put Prada sunglasses on when the sun is shining, nor that I get nervous anticipating an important life event for one of my friends. It’s just me, and I don’t know why, coming from Oxford university, some people are so insecure that they want to try and put me down to feed into their own intelligence. I know that I’m not bookish, but I also know that I’m not stupid. So why does making me feel bad (or trying to) make them feel good?

Today I met up with two of my friends whom I haven’t seen for a good while: Mel and Erum. They’re both making moves: Mel is in the middle of her Scandinavian Studies degree and currently working in the Cabinet Office on a summer internship; Erum is a law graduate about to start her LPC. We were in Starbucks pondering school, relationships, jobs, politics, the economy & swine flu, among other things. We also discussed current fashion, including those ridiculous visor sunglasses as worn (but not invented) by Kanye West. In case you don’t know what I am referring to, I illustrate:

Okay, they are impractical, which is a major con. But then so are Beyoncé’s “Diva” sunglasses which employ gold tassels hanging from a minimal frame, and I like those (plus, the fact that they hang vertically and move with the body means that you do have more of a chance of seeing where you’re going). What I don’t like about these is that a) they are really quite ugly, and b) they are being sold everywhere as the “new biggest trend”. Not just in white, but in neon colours. People are wearing these to clubs (I have seen pictorial evidence, as well as witnessing it myself) where normal sunglasses would be ridiculed, despite the fact that normal sunglasses generally look 100% better. And just because Kanye West wears them? I have of course been inspired by various celebrity fashion statements, and seeking to copy that is perfectly understandable and acceptable; that’s what inspiration is. But this is something else; it’s taking something quite clearly idiotic and pretending that it is cool and intelligent. It feels like a conspiracy that everyone is in on, and I take a stand against that because if I don’t like something, I am not going to wear it and that’s that. But don’t ridicule me for wearing fashionable designer glasses that look great, when there are people wearing these venetian blind things who can’t even see where they’re going! I mean, wtf?

Who decides what is “foolish” and what “isn’t”? I do what I like, and I use my common sense, and I think that everybody is entitled to do that. But what irritates me is when I make decisions that to me seem logical, and others want to pick on that for whatever reason, but they are quite happy to ignore / accept other things that are clearly beyond sensible. Are we, as the general public, really that insecure that we’re willing to knock down one person just to make ourselves feel better, but then able to pass an imbecilic trend just because it was started / revived by a celebrity who has more money / status than the majority of us, the general public? If Madonna jumped off the Empire State Building, would we all climb up there to follow? (The paparazzi would certainly be crowded around at the bottom, snapping the impact point to make numerous tributes in special-edition magazines… just look at Michael Jackson). I guess that it all depends on how caught up we are in appearances, and I am very conscious of the way that I look. But the final decision is made by me, and if others want to try and knock me down for doing something that I choose, or for not following a herd of sheep, then let them; I have my insecurities, but one of them is not following the crowd when I would prefer to follow my instincts.